Among data items stored and used in a wireless communication apparatus, for some data items, a new version is created after the lapse of a certain time. In the following description, such data items may be referred to as “device usage data” in order to distinguish them from other data items. Examples of the device usage data are software, firmware, and driver programs which are executed by a processor of a wireless communication apparatus, circuit information used in programmable logic devices, and map data used in navigation programs.
In order to manage verification of firmware in wireless communication apparatuses, the following method, for example, is known. An information log including verification test results is sent to a user management server by performing piggybacking by using short message services.
A device management (DM) server that is capable of remotely managing and controlling mobile information processing terminals, such as cellular phones, and thereby performs updating and fault diagnosis of firmware of cellular phones and sets various settings for the cellular phones is known. The DM server obtains application operating information, together with information received from a cellular phone while communicating with the cellular phone by using Open Mobile Alliance-Device Management (OMA-DM) protocols in order to perform updating and fault diagnosis of firmware of the cellular phone and to set various settings for the cellular phone. Upon receiving, from the cellular phone, fault detection information, which is set if a fault has been detected, the DM server detects the occurrence of a fault in the cellular phone and remotely instructs the cellular phone to restart or to set various settings. In response to this instruction, a firmware updating section of the cellular phone executes processing in accordance with the content of the instruction.
In communication networking, a method for distributing a file to a plurality of receivers that utilize a multicast channel is known. In this method, a set of instructions concerning file distribution are sent from an application server platform. Each of the instructions includes at least one attribute that specifies a condition concerning an approach to processing the instruction and the associated file content. This attribute includes a type that specifies an approach to processing a file instance. This type includes “upgrade” indicating that the content of the file instance will be used for upgrading firmware.
Examples of the above-described related art are disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2010-114813 and Japanese National Publication of International Patent Application Nos. 2008-547092 and 2009-539304.